1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carbon black-containing polyoxymethylene resin composition having excellent contact electrical resistance.
2. Related Art Statement
Polyoxymethylenes which are engineering resins having balanced mechanical properties and an excellent sliding property, are in wide use in various mechanical parts, office automation apparatuses, etc., due to the excellent sliding property.
However, as an electrical insulation and being similarly to other resins, polyoxymethylene resins are poor in removability of the static electricity generated by a sliding action or are poor in conductivity and have not been generally used in applications requiring both a sliding property and a high conductivity. In recent years, polyoxymethylene resins containing carbon black have been used in the above applications. However, these resins are insufficient in thermal stability and fluidity as well as in surface smoothness of molded material and accordingly these resins have had problems in that they are unable to exhibit the sliding property inherently possessed by polyoxymethylene resins, they have large contact electrical resistance, and they are unable to exhibit sufficient conductivity.
Various conductive resin compositions containing carbon black have hitherto been known. For example, Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. 8335/1985 discloses a method for producing a conductive resin comprising (a) a thermoplastic resin and (b) a conductive carbon having a dibutyl phthalate absorption of 400 ml/100 g or more and a heavy metal content of 500 ppm or less. Japanese Patent Publication No. 8712/1985 discloses a composition for plating, having a volume electrical resistance of 10.sup.3 .OMEGA..cm or less, comprising (a) a thermoplastic resin and (b) a carbon black having a dibutyl phthalate absorption of 200 ml/100 g or more. When these techniques are applied to a polyoxymethylene resin, the resulting resin composition has a volume electrical resistance of 200 .OMEGA..cm or less. However, the molded material thereof has insufficient thermal stability and a very rough surface. Accordingly, no molded material as intended by the present invention can be obtained.
Hence, various methods were proposed in order to improve the poor thermal stability of carbon black-containing polyoxymethylene resin. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 31736/1986 proposes a method of adding carbon black and an amide compound to a polyoxymethylene resin, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 40708/1986 proposes a method of adding carbon black and a low-density polyethylene to a polyoxymethylene resin. Further, Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. 210161/1988 proposes a method of adding carbon black and an epoxy compound to a polyoxymethylene resin. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. 210162/1988 proposes a method of adding carbon black, an epoxy compound and an organic phosphorus compound to a polyoxymethylene resin. In these techniques as well, however, improvement in thermal stability is insufficient and improvement in a more important surface roughness property is not at all seen. Accordingly, no molded material as intended by the present invention can be obtained.
Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. 2785541/1989 proposes the addition of carbon black and an ethylene copolymer to a polyoxymethylene resin to provide a composition with improved fluidity. In this technique, some improvement in surface roughness of molded material is obtained. However, improvement in thermal stability is still insufficient, and moreover, improvements in molded material surface as well as in contact electrical resistance are insufficient.